With the proliferation of wireless devices that have increased power, memory, and other features, more and more wireless devices are being used for entertainment purposes, including for executing content such as games, movies, and audio. In addition, these wireless devices may be used for content, such as applications, which may be targeted at productivity purposes, including e-mail, navigation, and location based services. A large number of content are provided by third-party developers, and distributed over a wireless communication system by the system operator. Some of these applications are tested and confirmed to work on particular wireless devices and/or wireless device configurations (e.g., versions of an operating system, hardware, or firmware), while others are not. Content may not be tested on all devices by developers because the costs of testing content on the range of devices in the market can become very expensive and often prohibitively expensive, especially for small developers.
Thus, in a content distribution system that serves various types of mobile devices associated with various network operators, often times content offered for download does not function on a given device because of differences in content requirements and device capabilities. Further, related art systems attempt to maintain mappings between device types and compatible content and/or content upgrades, however, maintaining an accurate mapping is very complicated and time consuming, resulting in an administrative nightmare. Therefore, users of wireless devices sometimes have a bad user experience, e.g. the content does not operate correctly or at all, when obtaining and attempting to use content that has not been previously tested and approved for their particular wireless device, or their particular wireless device configuration.
It would be desirable to obtain a plurality of device characteristics, which is used to filter a plurality of available content into a subset of device-specific available content that is compatible with, or particularly designated for (e.g., by a network operator), the device based on comparing the plurality of device characteristics with positive feedback, such as reviews and ratings, from other users with the same or similar devices. It would also be desirable to determine device-specific available content based upon successful content usage tracking on devices with the same or similar device characteristics.